NICE LITTLE SAND BAR...LITTLE SLOW IN THE MIDDLE....SPEEDS UP ON THE INSIDE...

MAIN BOWL PEAK IS WAY OVER RIGHT NOW....

NOT VERY BIG....ONLY 3-4 GUYS OUT...

ONLY PLACE I'VE EVER SEEN WHITEY!!! 2 YEARS AGO ON A - TIDE WHILE TAKING MY FREE RIDE OUT ON THE RIP CURRENT....THERE IT WAS...JUST SITTING IN THE RIP. SUCKS TO HAVE TO SWIM SIDEWAYS BEFORE U CAN SWIM IN!

Session: argh...

It was one of those days when you think you can sur, that the conditions are makeable. But when I jumped into the water, it was impossible to go outside: too much current, to many frequent closes-out to allow you to pass...

My first try was the worst: I get caught by a big close out and get hold down for a long time...

The non-summer surfing saga we've committed ourselves to surely had a nice beginning. There was this huge swell from the East and pretty much all beaches were closing out, apart from Garopaba Centro.

After "feeling" the peak on Saturday, Sunday offered us clean conditions with some left-handers providing 3-feet-high walls and enough speed to finish your maneuvers properly. 8 waves, a long-desired slash spreading some water around, a lengthy ride till the sand with a roundhouse cutback. Last but not least, a relatively strong "lip-punch" I hadn't performed in ages.

Well, if you really wannasurf, I think you've got to surf... am I right?

This was my third and last session in Palau. The surf gods definitely saved the best conditions for last! Ben picked me up at my hotel around 930 and we were on the boat and at the break by 1030. The waves were shoulder high to overhead and winds were just enough to make it a little choppy. A small rain squall gave us the perfect chance to have some lunch before the winds died and we had a perfect glassy afternoon. Six of us went out with Bill that day, and there were so many waves to go around that you never had to fight for that perfect break. K.B. and Tino broke off about an hour before the rest of us and went spear fishing. After seven solid hours of Primo surf we all paddled back to the boat for fresh Sashimi and ice cold Asahi. If I ever have another day like this one I will consider myself twice blessed by the surf gods. There truly is nothing like clean head to overhead waves, good friends, fresh fish and cold beer to make a lifelong memory.

Hit Makaha in the afternoon with a friend. Constant good sized waves and no rip or chanel made paddling out a real effort. My friend decided to stay out there looking for good waves and trying to get breathers in between sets... he ended up catching very few waves and constantly paddling back out after getting pushed in.

I just caught about every wave that I could rather than deal with getting pushed back to shore constantly. Had one set where I managed to catch all 3 waves (only for 5s or so each though). My wave catching ability has increased a good deal and I was able to catch almost every wave that I paddled for. I kept the tip up and didn't do any crazy pearling head first dives. Rode a couple waves on my knees. Was my first session with surf boots. They made a lot of difference on the dirt areas where there's so much broken glass and rusty nails. They helped some with the biggest rocks but they still aren't comfortable. They gave good grip on the board, but it took a number of tries to get used to standing up with them.

When I arrived, it was really foggy with only one guy out. Waves seemed small. But when I paddle out, I realized it was bigger than I thought. Even the peak was moving, the rights were really good, glassy and no close out.

The guy went out and I surf alone: how can you explain that I surfed good waves ALONE at Lacanau ? I still don't understand.

Went down to San Bartolo on a good 6-8 Ft day. Caught a few waves but they were a little out of my league. Managed to keep the tip up and avoid pearling though. My buddy didn't want to get into the bigger stuff so he just tried to catch a few edges and mostly watch.

I had a lot of problems with my board's grip. Even with it being well waxed, I had a lot of slippage. I guess partly due to the hot sun and warmer water. A number of wipeouts were caused simply by loosing my footing due to slipping.

Went back in the afternoon with a friend. The waves were much more choppy and the onshore wind was very strong. The waves seemed to only break when we were paddling out and once we got out there, all we got was crap waves and wind pushing us back to the shore.

I stepped on a dirty nail or something that put a hole in the bottom of my left heel while walking from the car to the rock beach. The exit via the rocks was especially painful and frustrating. I hope to progress my surfing a bit more so that I never have to come back to Makaja again. Most of my paddling strokes hit some kind of trash that was floating in the water.

The cheapest rental price for a foam board that we could find was S/. 20 per hour. If you do 2 sessions a day, this equates to S/. 80 (about $27) per day which is outrageous considering the board's tip was held together with duct tape! They wanted us to pay even more (S/. 30 / $10 per hour) which was just a straight rip off. If you're going to be surfing in Lima for more than a couple weeks, it's better to just go down to the Sunset shop and buy a brand new board for about $280 and then sell that used when you leave.

Went down with a friend and rented him a board. We both caught our first waves where we were able to stand up all of the way to the shore (10s+). After catching our first good ones, we managed to catch a lot of lesser rides (4-5s).

Water was dirty and there was a ton of trash and even some used tampons in the water. My eyes burned some and got a bit blurry from the polluted water. The rocks on the shore really hurt our feet when we exited the water. There were broken nails and broken glass all over the parking lot and the dirt areas that separated the sidewalk from the rock beach. Going to have to buy surfing booties just to manage all this crap. The waves are great but the evironment around the beach is really frustrating and dirty.

Can't wait to get good enough to go somewhere in the south that's more clean and actually be able to catch waves there.

You dont get many chances at what i got at whanga bar a glassy 3ft offshore barrels with only 2 people out. early morining dawney cudnt see anythng when i first got out but once it cleared i cud definitly see sum good size barrels realing through. sick long rides about 200meters with a sick barrel on take off and walling up all the way in. it was epic is all i kan say and i was expecting at least 10-15 people to be out knowing whanga bar but the longer i stayed no one kame out until finally my seesion ended in tradgey when i took off on a 3 foot double to triple up and pulled in before getting sucked over the falls and snaping my board and ripping off all the glassing at the same time. my board was a gonna but it was worth it.

Playa Norte shorebreak bodyboard session with my friend. Saw dolphins earlier in the day. Got some really good waves in the shorebeak, but ate some sand and got pinned down against the sand a couple times by breaking waves. In close it was easy to catch the smaller waves, but the sets wrecked you. Out farther you could only get the sets, but we were having problems catching some of them. Finally got my weight on the front of the board a little more and my elbow in the board better. Then started catching some good waves.

Scraped my lower back some on the sand as I was being pinned under a breaking wave. Not a bit deal though, no blood. Beautiful sunset. We stayed in the water until 7:20pm or so just until the end of twilight.

I first went to Lacanau but when I arrived: the swell was already too big to surf. Long lines crashed all on the outside banks.....

So I decided to go to Le Gurp. And it was a good decision: the swell was really easy to surf. Waves were around 1,5 m not too powerful , sometimes at 2m. It was easy to paddle outside. And the waes were hollow but not too fast: I caught 3 tubes ! At the end, the tide wa too low. It was time to came back home.

Got out there early and it was pretty cloudy and cool. Didn't clear up until about 10:45am. Then sunny and bright. Great waves all morning with a good break between waves, nice sets. Surfed the lefts to the south of the bay. Buddy bodyboarded. Water was a little chilly when we got there and didn't warm up much since it was cloudy almost the whole time. No wetsuits just board shorts and long sleeve rash vests.